


take back the crown

by harajukucrepes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 12:05:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4221102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harajukucrepes/pseuds/harajukucrepes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sports is a sick cycle of struggle between the gifted and the accursed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	take back the crown

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ideallyqualia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/gifts).



*

 

take back the crown

 

*

 

Some of the (arguably, very) legitimate reasons for Kageyama Tobio to quit volleyball: 

1\. Nobody likes him  
2\. Not a team player  
3\. Right kind of hands, shitty kind of brain  
4\. There's a reason why people keep trying to overthrow monarchies  
5\. Not pretty enough to compensate for that constant bitchface  
6\. The kind of guy who would definitely grow up to be a psychopathic despot of a leader  
7\. Seriously, nobody likes him

They never told it to his face though, people were too polite (and fearful of him) to do that. Instead, they said it _around_ him, because what could he do anyway? Space is a free dimension, anyone can say anything, and if he violates that, he gets called up to the principal's office. Simple. 

 

*

 

Some of the reasons why Karasuno High School's volleyball team has been struggling to live up to their (arguably, way overdue) past reputation: 

1\. The captain is not good enough  
2\. The setter is not good enough  
3\. The ace is not good enough  
4\. The spikers are not good enough  
5\. The blockers are not good enough  
6\. The libero is too good that the rest can't keep up  
7\. Coach Ukai's method are old-fashioned  
8\. ...at the end of the day they are just not good enough? 

And that was why the first thing in Daichi's head the moment his captainship was finalised was _scouting_. They are right, Sugawara. We aren't good enough, but there are boys out there who are. We will find them. 

Sugawara had always admired this about Daichi; that selfless ambition, that tunnel vision en route to victory. Yes, they had echoed each other, complete with fist bumps and all, until Take-chan- _sensei_ leaked them the list of new first years and Sugawara's heart dropped. 

He wondered if Daichi was ready for what was going to happen. Then again, perhaps he didn't care. 

 

* 

 

Kageyama had been the setter from the day he decided on volleyball. It wasn't even like he couldn't play any other position, because he had known from that start that he could, don't underestimate him. 

Would he had played any other position if he was shit at being a setter? Someone once asked him and he answered _yes_ because why wouldn't he? What's the point of continuing to do something you're terrible at? And it happened that Kageyama was freaking good at what he does, what was the point of wondering? 

He didn't know who played setter at Karasuno, because frankly, it wasn't his business to care about. Oikawa was _phenomenal_ , even Hinata was _incredible_ , they both came from different schools, played different position—really, it didn't matter. 

So that was why Sugawara Koushi really surprised him. He was expecting someone more, say, _flashier_. Someone with a pronounced set of skills perhaps, like Oikawa and those famed serves of his. Someone with a more lasting presence on court perhaps, like Hinata with his jumping and screaming and spirited yells. Someone with a more unpredictable demeanor, like how he imagined a trickster setter should be. Or even someone like him perhaps, someone who was unapologetically commanding. 

Kageyama never thought that Sugawara wasn't good though. People somehow listen to him, like magic. He was technically solid, good enough for the court at least. If there was anything he had learned in the past was that players are more than what they are practising to be, and Sugawara was the setter that Coach Ukai had trained. He just _couldn't be_ not good. 

He tried saying that to Tanaka, when he was teaching them for their match against the captain and the other two first years, but Tanaka only grinned. 

“Sugawara-sempai is amazing,” he had said, “you'll know pretty soon.”

Of course, Tanaka was pretty good himself, so hearing it was kind of reassuring. 

Perhaps good players weren't just like Oikawa. 

 

*

 

He was older than Kageyama, but he wasn't _old_ , Sugawara said to himself. Who was everyone kidding, pitying him for being replaced (what was the deal with the request from Aobajousai anyway), the prospects looking more real than ever. He was only a high schooler, there was still college. He was eighteen, not eighty. 

He had technically (by virtue of being older anyway) played longer, but that never meant he was better. He wasn't terrible, it was only because Kageyama was a genius. If there was something Coach Ukai had taught him, it was that nobody was born a genius. Kageyama worked hard—Sugawara had seen it for himself. He had been working hard from that broken pedestal people had put him on—he had heard stories. Kageyama's court was a far crueler place than Sugawara's; the place where people had enthroned him just to put him in a better position to be thrown away. 

Kageyama had absolutely no reason to be guilty. 

So he came running over towards him, and Sugawara was willing to bet ten volleyball matches that Kageyama was going to apologise, but Sugawara would have none of it. 

He would take us to victory, Daichi had told him, and Sugawara agreed. 

Victory meant everything to Sugawara and sports is a sick cycle of struggle between the gifted and the accursed. 

 

* 

 

The truth was that those awe that were in his eyes when he had first seen Oikawa serve? They were never gone. Oikawa was perfect, Oikawa was amazing, Oikawa was his mentor, Oikawa was his idol, and that was why it was so hard to move on. 

Sugawara wasn't Oikawa. Sugawara's skills weren't anything special, and at the end of the day, perhaps that was what Kageyama exactly should had been: nobody special. 

It's ok to fall, it's ok to fail, it's ok to sweat in the middle of the match and blank out. It's ok to be who you are, it's ok to drop to the lowest level and never get back up, you were only _called_ a king but you never was. Kageyama, you're doing well, you're fine. 

All these and more, everything unspoken, as Sugawara smiled at him, handed him a can of Pocari and said, win it for us. 

“You didn't quit when you were expected to, did you?”

Sugawara wasn't Oikawa, wasn't special, only because he was more than that. Karasuno, Hinata, everyone. 

And for that reason alone, Kageyama would take back the crown, have everyone would fall back under his reign, but this time, claim it for all the right reasons and purposes.

 

*


End file.
